NIGERIA: Hijab Rights Advocacy Initiative strongly condemns the recent, deeply disturbing attacks on two hijab niqabi-wearing Muslim women in Lagos and Ibadan; assaults that not only targeted their bodies, but also violently stripped away their dignity, faith, and freedom.
In Ibadan, a pregnant Muslim woman wearing the hijab-niqab was verbally abused, physically assaulted, and beaten up in a public marketplace. Eyewitnesses confirm that she was not only attacked but also stripped of her face veil in the presence of a crowd; a cruel act of humiliation and religious discrimination.
Similarly, in Ijora, Lagos, a 40-year-old Muslim hijabi-niqabi woman and asthmatic patient, was accosted on May 17 by a man identified as a Naval officer. He ordered her to remove her veil to “prove” she was a woman. Despite her attempt to comply respectfully by offering to unveil for another woman, she was violently attacked by the officer, a woman called in from a nearby beer parlour and several others. She was stripped of her niqab and hijab in the scuffle and left badly beaten until a good Samaritan intervened.
The matter was reported to the Ijora Police Station, and while one of the suspects has been charged to court and remanded at Kirikiri Prison, the Naval officer is currently at large, having been released on bail to a senior official.
Head of Hijab Rights Advocacy Initiative; Barrister Hajiya Mutiat Orolu said “We unequivocally condemn these actions as discriminatory hate crimes that must not be ignored. Assaulting Muslim hijabi niqabi women simply for observing their religious dress code is an affront to human dignity, religious liberty, and constitutional rights. These are not isolated incidents; they are part of a growing pattern of intolerance that must be stopped before it sparks wider unrest”.
Hajiya Barrister Mutiat Orolu reinstated a “call on security agencies and relevant authorities to ensure that all perpetrators are held accountable and that justice is neither delayed nor denied. We urge the public to speak up, share credible information on the fugitive Naval officer simply called Akin, and resist the hateful rhetoric and behavior that fuel such attacks”.
Shereefat Enessi, Secretary of Hijab rights advocacy, said “These hijabi niqabi women did not provoke violence, they were simply walking in modesty and faith. To allow their assailants to go unpunished would be to sanction a culture of impunity and discrimination. Nigeria cannot afford the consequences of turning a blind eye to such injustice.”
We demand justice. We demand safety. And we demand respect for every woman’s right to choose her religious identity without fear. Niqab is not a threat. Niqab is not a crime. Niqab is her right. Barrister Hajiya Mutiat Orolu said.
The female co-perpetrator was arraigned before the magistrate court, and the matter adjourned.
